The AWP is OP.
How can valve balance the sniper?
1. Make it less accurate while no-scoping. It’s too OP in close battles now.
2. Make it a bit slower in some way. Slower to walk with, slower to zoom, slower to switch weapon to an from.
3. Maybe lower the price at the same time.
What nerfs would you like to see?

deals 50 dmg to you if you miss
20% slower running speed than negev
less accurate when no scoping
1 bullet 1 in reserve
2 hit in head 5 hit in body 7 hit in leg for kill
not perfectly accurate when scoped
damage dropout after 600 units is 0 damage
reload time 20 seconds

tbh awp is fine i think but it would be interesting to have a smaller mag and less reserve, it would make it more difficult to use, no spam through walls or smokes etc, people would use it more sparingly

No nerfs needed honestly. Just cuz you cant handle enemy awpers or you cant play awp yourself doesnt mean it needs nerf :) if you hate it so much, rather than calling for unnecessary nerf learn to play with/against it or go play another game.

There are plenty of bad AWPers peeking too slow, not holding the right angles, low reaction speed, not expecting enemy pushes, not moving enough, not flicking well enough, not going for quickscopes, getting tunnel vision etc.
Once you learn these things you're a good AWPer. Until then buying the AWP is just a waste of money. That's the same for any weapon, but since the other weapons are cheaper it's not as high risk to buy it.
There's a new gen of AWPers emerging like ZywOo, hallzerk and sometimes also s1mple, being more aggressive and using the weapon to its full potential. It's not unbalanced, but people just need to get used to that playstyle. That playstyle is based on the enemy not expecting your push so it's easy to counter it by keeping your head cool and being prepared for the pushes, holding straight angles etc, but most people just get mad when someone pushes a smoke with an AWP or preaim common positions.
To counter a good AWP: Don't peek them unless you have a chance of being faster than them. Play off-angles rather than holding common corners. Example maybe don't hold Mirage short from the ladder room, it's an easy kill from chair. Instead maybe hold further back, or put a one-way in window. Or instead of holding the regular angle from Cache quad to main, maybe play on the little ledge in NBK or on site, maybe even from fork or heaven.
Just give it a few more months and the AWP will be perfectly balanced when people learn how to counter it.

Again, ZywOo, hallzerk are examples of players who have learned to use it to it's full potential. It's just like learning how to make a new smoke wall or how to do a proper execute on a site. It's skill based and takes practice and experience. Since ZywOo hasn't been on the scene for that long teams are only just getting used to it, and hallzerk is a good example of someone using a similar playstyle who is really new to the scene, and more will come. I think the time of defensive AWPers like device and JW is over and teams and viewers are gonna need to get used to these new playstyles.

JW defensive AWPer lol.
Defensive AWP style still works very well. Device have been top 5 for years with very defensive style. And it will always be good at defensive positions as CT.
The AWP is too dynamic as it is now. should at least be worse accuracy with no scope to make it less viable close battle.

That's possible, although I can't say I specifically agree with you though since I never hit my noscopes lol. I do play it on medium and close ranges though pretty successfully, usually quickscoping on close ranges. I think that fast paced players with good movement have always been very good in CS, and when you combine it with an AWP it's quite powerful. I'm still inclined to say it isn't unbalanced, as noscoping really isn't a good tactic to use consistantly.

Again, what does my performance matter if you are talking about the pro scene?
Besides, what does it matter if I play it or not?
You haven't made any points so far other than "it's too good if you have good economy" which you didn't back up by any facts and then you said "it's always too op", contradicting your previous statement and still not backing it up by facts

so I should listen to stupid kids because they are the majority? that is just stupid.
I know how the game is being played at tier 1 and anyone can see that the AWP is op. maybe you are too dumb to understand?

Then back it up by factual statements and not just your opinions and anecdotal evidence. You still haven't done that.
If the awp was op, then why aren't we seeing 5 man awp setups with high economy ct's?
If the awp was op, then why do pro players not complain about it?
It being the most powerful weapon in the game DOES NOT MAKE IT OP, it is balanced due to its price.

dude you can´t be serious.
5 man AWP in csgo, how stupid are you? you don´t understand the game at all? How can 5 AWP retake a site? lmao.
A lot of pros have opinions about the AWP, being op and different suggestions of nerfing. do you live in a hole?

So you are saying the gun is strong in some circumstances and not strong on others? Almost as if the gun was perfectly balanced as it is. Thank you for making my argument for me.
Maybe cite some pro players then who talked about the awp recently? Give some evidence, so far your only source is :t "trust me, bro"

i am, and because of it i think its a a well made weapon (after the kennyS nerf).
+playing it myself on kind of ok level CS (rank 9-10 faceit) its ok, nothing too much to handle as enemy and being pretty good impact wise

and required a top tier awping level to make the difference, what do you want to do with it? make is a secondary to SG? awp is high cost high impact weapon 20 years of same weapon and shouldnt change no matter what.

im playing cs since 2006 and the price has been 4750$...
the fact that people adjusted their gameplay to the nerf occurred in 2015 doesnt mean its op. like krieg, since it went into the meta, people who couldnt adjust themself to the meta just cried "op gun op gun" while the one's who did get it good didnt cry about it at all.

Its more like the AWP players that cry about the SG since they now have a actual contending gun on the T side. Its not as easy anymore with AWP.
And as you say, the ones that are bad at adjusting and don´t get good with the SG also cries :) Like we see here on hltv every single day.
There have been adjustments to the awp during the years, but the prize have been the same I guess.

I think the awp is faster now than back in 1.6 I dont have the stats.
On pro lvl awp is still too op for the pros to complain about the sg. I think its mostly silvers here on hltv that complains about the sg.
Niko always have strong opinions :)

lmao strong opinions, he's the best aimer CS has ever knows with all the respect to the others.
awp is just awp, they way it always has been, i cannot find a reason to complain about any of the weapons, just like sg was there all of the time but the price didnt seem realistic until valve did the amazing thing of lowering the price, they didnt buff any stats and just made is purchasable. i really am enjoying cs now more then ever.

awp always has been OP, always, xD even in pro level u see how OP it is, when u see S1mple, Dev1ce o Zywoo with awp getting 3 and 4 frags per round ez and pros use "flash" "smokes" etc and still getting rekt by AWP.
If u make AWP worse u will see how many trashes and "gods" level 10 will play, without awp many people become trash as fuck cuz.
At least we have krieg hope they dont nerf it, cuz they only real gun to deal with awps at any distance, u can peek them without being afraid of getting rekted.

Yes +1
This is exactly why the Krieg is needed. All the main AWP players crying on this forum cause it’s not as easy anymore with AWP.
As you say, it’s always been OP. Watching tier 1 proves it like you say.
Worse no scope, not a one shot below waist and slightly slower speed would balance the weapon and game.

Ak/a1/a4/awp all require a shitton of practice to become decent on them. Krieg doesn't. Its braindead weapon and super easy, thats the reason people in lower ranks were using it before becoming popular in competitive cs. You suck at cs.

bro its 4750 dollars. if you compare it to an sg which is 3000 dollars. Both one shots in head. sg fires wayyyy faster, has 30 bullets, has scope, is very accurate. you are just bad and dont shoulder peak

comparing those two weapons is just dumb. its two different play styles. I think you need to
get better at the game. Us good players dont fall for shoulder peak or we make the shot. watch some tier 1 to understand the game better.

I do use it and its easy to get a lot of kills with it.
But on the pro lvl it is too op. JW, zywoo and device are having such an easy time. even in close battles.
burgers should not cry as much as you do. You need to watch some tier 1 to understand the game.

awp has always been the way it is, since 1.6. if u dont like it feel free to quit the game, stop fucking whining. its a fucking sniper, and it costs alot, its suppose to kill with 1 bullet. and how exactly zywoo, jw and device are having easy time? they are shit latley.
go and cry somewhere else, or fucking grow up. u can claim to be good with it all u want, its pretty ovbious u get rekt in mm alot

poor guy u are worried about the pro scene? which team do own? who tf cares u are worried about the pro scene lmao? maybe its not u getting rekt in mm, maybe u just lost ur 5 dollar bet cause the team u picked got rekt by an awper? who knows

hahaha you are such a loser kid.
I just think it has too much impact on the pro games. like in close battle it should not have so high accuracy with no scope. Its so easy to hit those shots. A rifle should have more advantage close battle.

I'm yet to see an examples of how it is OP. It's the same price as a full T side players buy for just a weapon. The existence of kriegs has already diminished the AWPs role in high tier games.
It's incredibly easy to neutralize with utility. Sure, some players can get cheeky and push a smoke with it, but other than some savants at the game, you are cut off the second a smoke blocks you off.

read the comments.
too good accuracy with no scope, 1v1 vs rifle close battle is too easy for awp. rifle should have a good advantage.
"It's incredibly easy to neutralize with utility" How many pro games have you watched?
Smokes don´t last forever.

There are hundreds of comments here dude. I'm reading an entire thread for a short sighted statement.
Unfortunately we can't really have an objective argument about what we think of the close range accuracy of no scope AWPing because that just falls to opinions. Many say it's mostly based on luck, and you're saying it's too easy. What we know is at the highest level of competition where the skill difference is almost negligible, people make a big deal about no scopes. So it must be a pretty rare thing based on that one metric we can actually measure.
Smokes aren't meant to last forever. 15ish seconds is enough time to position yourself past an AWPs sightlines. That's the whole point. Oh. AWPer is Jungle? Lets smoke it and take site. Now the player needs to retake with an AWP.
I'm not sure why you asked "How many pro games have you watched?". Enough to see smokes and flashes used to take sites. Enough to see utility block site takes, and retakes. My argument was never smokes last forever.

no, you should not have to read all comments. Ask what you want my opinion on.
Of course we can have an argument, everyone have different opinions. The goal can´t be to change the other persons opinion at all times.
I play AWP a lot and I dont think its hard to hit no scope close range. You see pros hitting almost every close ranged no scope shot.
I asked how many pro games you watched because you said "It's incredibly easy to neutralize with utility"
But if you watch pro games its not easy to neutralize awps. They still have high impact, because you can play around smokes and dodge flashes or hide and retake with team.
AWP still has a very high impact, even if the enemy team has full utility.

The krieg has actually had no effect on the impact of the AWP.
It's only reduced the AK-47 impact, now the krieg and AK are fairly equal for kills in pro CS at around 20% each where the AK was about 40% of all kills before players started using the krieg.
The AWP is genuinely OP in terms of how good it is, but the huge price balances it fairly well.
The same has happened with the krieg, $300 extra was enough to reduce its use significantly and now it's having the same impact as the AK.

if the awp hides just nade. If you put yourself in a disadvantageous fight and die then you got the expected outcome. If you are shit at the game you just are. I may be dogshit aim wise but I atleast have the half brain required to understand if I put myself in a shit position I will die.

because ct is favored mainly because of the AWP.
T got so much utility to take the sites, and even the SG that so many think is OP.
How can T not win more rounds on every map? Because the AWP is too dynamic and OP. everyone need to respect the awp and even when they fire a shot they can fire again so fast.

You're just stupid
CTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FAVORED BECAUE THEY JUST HOLD IT NOT PUSH IT THERES DIFFERNCE BETWEEN HOLD AND PUSH
THE DIFFERNCE IS U DONT RISK MUCH WHEN U HOLD
T'S CAN FLASH AWP PUSH TOGETHER HE CANT KILL 2 OR MORE T's IN MATTER OF SECOND LIKE M4,KRIEG,AK CAN
i bet you dont know much about this game

you dont seem to understand the game very well. When you take a site you are 5v2 or 5v3 and u got smokes and flashes. If it wasnt for the AWP CT would have way less success rate.
Of course it easier to hold than attack, but with greater numbers in attack that makes the difference.

I BET YOURE THAT GUY THAT JUST RUNS OUT MID AND DIES AND TYPES IN CHAT HOW OP AWP IS
THERES COUPLE OF WAYS TO BAIT AN AWP SHOT
THERES COUPLE OF WAYS TO TEMPORARY DISARM AWPER
U CAN PUT AWPER IN SO MUCH DISADVANTAGES

I watch a lot of tournaments and I still think It's perfectly balanced. What's the problem with it? It costs a lot of money, It doesn't kill you instantly if they hit the legs and They can get overwhelmed kinda easily, like I said, I see no problem with It.

pros dont hit the legs very often.
A lot of good tips in the comments about how to nerf it.
Decrease the accuracy of no scope, almost all pros hit every no scope shot. Its too accurate as it is. Too easy for awpers close range vs rifler. Should be advantage to be rifler in those situations.
slightly slower scoping so its not so extremely fast to re peak.
A lot of good things can be done, read the comments if you are interested.
not talking about raising the price, actually would be ok with it costing a few hundred less if it was slightly nerfed.

Imo, only the noscope accuracy and the fire rate should be nerfed, this coming from a main rifler, i rarely even play awp and i think it's pretty okay, but the noscope accuracy and the fire rate should be nerfed imo, sometimes people can pick up too many kills too fast with this broken fire rate.

awp is fine, the main problem is it makes some people think they are better than they are/ enables weaker players because its easier to do well with. aka sryson, nawwk, etc. i respect awpers like s1mple, zywoo, woxic

I'm pretty good with it. I honestly find myself buying it over the AK every round now. I really don't think it's healthy for the balance of the game though.
It's way too easy to hold angles with it.
For example, retaking any site on inferno as CT with terrorists posted on angles with the SG is literally impossible.
You can already counter AWPs with flashes, and CTs can't afford AWP every round with how bad the economy is for them imo. They also already nerfed the AWP recently with the crouch walk peeking. If a crouching AWP misses a shot, they are dead 90% now because their movement speed is so bad.

I get your point but It’s still easier to hold angles with AWP since it’s one shot kill almost entire body.
It’s not like the Ts have started to win way too many rounds on pro lvl so it’s not too imba imo.